Children of a lesser Left

Once upon a time, I suppose, the political Left had credible goals coming out of the 1950s, but since that time, I routinely wonder where all the substance went.

Of late, the Left seems to deliberately cater to some of the most indulgent aspects of human nature, and I’m now increasingly convinced that they have simply grown ideologically senile. For it would seem that, in progressivism’s old age, it has succumbed to utter childishness.

The problem wasn’t entirely unpredictable. For seventy years, Canadians have been languishing even in our flourishing. We’re now so historically distant from any significant geopolitical crisis that the psychological resilience of another age is almost unknown to us. Hence, our society seems consistently emotionally fragile. It’s childish.

With little to overcome, we’ve undergone a sad metamorphosis. We’re like the pasty indoor kids with the hyperactive immune system — having had too clean an upbringing, we never get healthy. We just get inflamed— and neurotic.

Absent are any decisions of real substance. Long gone are those fleeting moments when the Left actually marched against a bonafide injustice — even risking their lives for the greater good. Consider instead, the mocking immaturity of what the political Left now prizes.

The Left wants to ban spanking.The Left wants to decriminalize weed. The Left likes to provide safe injection sites. The Left thinks single-stall washrooms are oppressive. The Left wants to appear nice by helping you die. The Left wants 12-oz drinks. The Left thinks barbed wire and borders are mean. The Left wants us to be unqualifiedly hospitable to their favourite refugees.The Left thinks Sharia is a quaint multicultural expression. The Left wants “safe places” on campus. The Left calls being honest “hateful”. The Left wants you to choose your gender. The Left is sensitive to “trigger” words. The Left wants to identify all micro-aggression. The Left wants free cellphones.The Left wants taxless tampons. The Left wants cash for clunkers.The Left wants post-national, world peace. The Left wants “sunny ways.”

And like all demanding children, what the Left often wants, the Left often gets.

Evidently, there is no substance left within the Left. Sadly, the children of a Lesser Left have now become mere bubble-wrapped caricatures of themselves. The Left doesn’t just want universal child care; it has BECOME universal child care.

And it is typical of children to have little to no self-control. Should it be a shock, therefore, that Canada’s budget deficit just ballooned from $10 billion to $29 billion when the new Canadian budget was released yesterday? Is it all about the downturn? Or is it also a political Left that cannot help but kindly— and childishly— coddle itself?

Conservatism and libertarianism seem to have this much in common these days: Both ideologies promote a certain level of autonomy and self reliance. The Left, however, would slowly turn everyone into petty versions of the Last Emperor of China— where the most mature decision we’ll make in a day is whether to grab our next meal, or ask our wet nurse out on a date.

Are we surprised that the Left now openly battles against parents in our school systems? We shouldn’t be. Insulting parenthood is a natural part of politicized adolescence.

As a Christian pastor, when I engage people in on-line debate, it is not at all unusual for me to be accused of believing in fairies, unicorns, and pixie dust. However, in my defence before my honourable secular leftist critics, at least my Bible says, “When I became a man, I put away childish things."

I’m writing this blog during Christian Holy Week. Doubtless, my critics will see the hope of eternal life as little more than “childish” wishful thinking. Yet, for all the immaturity that abounds these days, no Bible reader ever got to the resurrection of the dead without passing through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ first.

It is perhaps a testimony to a balanced maturity that heavenly bliss is always predicated upon earthly sorrow. There’s nothing quite like trial, pain, and death to sober up a child. Politics, in this sense, is no different than religion. The children of the Kingdom have no choice but to grow up.

We all must grow up. The only alternative is to find ourselves, like incorrigible kids on judgement day, standing somewhere on God’s left.

You seem to have an awakening going on David, however, I would suggest that if you want to fully comprehend the polemic discord which is fragmenting our culture and retarding our social/civil evolution, you will shed the left-right polemic (an invention of the ruling class) and be more focused on the true nature of social/cultural advancement – it is and always has been liberty and freedom through populism. Political parties and brands are a device of the ruling elite, civil liberty and social freedom are the results of common populism over political elitism.

These 2 hard won commodities (freedom/liberty) have accelerated human development and established republic democracy more than any so called political branded ruling parties. There’s the rub. The left-right polemic focuses our attention on warring cultural groups divided into politically labeled camps – while we are busy fighting each other, our freedom is being robbed by an ever expanding state which we both run to, to smite down our political enemies. The state expands and a new round of polemics ensues until a state-expanding solution is achieved by one side or the other. The “state” is nothing more than force – we all need less “force” in our lives so we can move forward as a culture and nation to act on our individual pursuit of achievement.

In that scenario there really is no left or right, there is only statism and coercive force or populist freedom and less state intervention. Statism and the cult of statism verses the individual and his freedom – Left and right are polemic abstracts of the Hegelian dialectic of statism.

Free yourself from statism and simply speak in terms of state coercion and populist liberty – in that way we can see the anti-individual, anti-freedom machinations of the different camps of the political class who want to draw us into their factional statist expansion. _ Yes, those who label themselves as leftist/progressive/liberal/socialist are most certainly promoting the expansion of the state and by extension, the sublimation of the individual’s liberty – many do not realise it – just as many so called right react to leftist aggressive statism or social ills by seeking shelter in more statism to counter – it’s a closed loop system which ultimately results in surrender of freedom to an omnipotent state.

Seek truth, not polemics, seek freedom not statist political solutions.

“…our society seems consistently emotionally fragile. It’s childish. With little to overcome, we’ve undergone a sad metamorphosis. We’re like the pasty indoor kids with the hyperactive immune system — having had too clean an upbringing, we never get healthy. We just get inflamed— and neurotic.
Absent are any decisions of real substance. "

Thanks David. Best couple of sentences I’ve read in a while.

But I want to make one little correction to what followed: the left only wants to ban adults from spanking kids – but they’d be fine if it became Canada’s national prime-time sport between consenting adults…with the proviso that this alternative lifestyle was adequately covered in grade 6 sex-ed.